Appeared as defending champions and ended up in fifth place: the German ski jumpers clearly missed out on medals in the final competition of the World Championships. National coach Stefan Horngacher takes risks that are not rewarded. This causes frustration despite an otherwise very positive conclusion.
Markus Eisenbichler scolded like a sparrow and sought consolation from his friend Andrea. After a failed poker game by national coach Stefan Horngacher, the frustration of the former ski jumping world champion had to be vented. "Shit," Eisenbichler roared, referring primarily to the missed medal in the team competition at the World Championships in Planica. Gold went to hosts Slovenia ahead of Norway and Austria.
The reason for the frustration was 50 centimeters missing: Horngacher had the inrun for Eisenbichler shortened by two hatches at the beginning of the second round. The six-time world champion had to jump 131.0 meters to get the bonus points - and landed at 130.5 meters. As a result, the DSV quartet with Eisenbichler, Constantin Schmid, Andreas Wellinger and Karl Geiger fell back to fifth place. It also ended the competition there.
"We calculated it beforehand and said: If we want a medal, we have to take a risk," said Horngacher on ARD: "We believed Markus could do it. That half a meter is not enough, we have to take that risk ." In retrospect, however, it became clear that even with the ten bonus points it would have been "only" enough for fourth place instead of fifth.
Eisenbichler was still angry. "I'm brutally pissed off," said the 31-year-old: "We were able to compete here and were close to the medals. That's annoying when you gamble a little bit. A hatch might have done it too. With me it wasn't agreed, it's a bit of a shame, but I trust the coaches."
Meanwhile, hosts Slovenia won the first team gold in their World Cup history. Timi Zajc, who had already won gold in singles on Friday, Lovro Kos, Ziga Jelar and Anze Lanisek made the thousands of fans cheer. Slovenia had never climbed above third place (2011 and 2015). After the victory of local hero Timi Zajc the day before, Eisenbichler had given the German title defense as a goal. At the home world championships in Oberstdorf two years ago, he won together with Geiger, Severin Freund and Pius Paschke.
Right from the start, a thriller developed in the valley of the hills, in which five nations played the leading roles. After the first jumps of Eisenbichler (137.0 meters) and Schmid (133.0 meters) Germany was in fifth place, just behind the top. Wellinger (126.5) brought the DSV quartet to fourth place for the first time, which Geiger (136.0) defended at half-time.
Then Horngacher took full risk and the medal went out of reach. After gold in the mixed event and silver and bronze from Wellinger and Geiger on the normal hill, the Austrian was still satisfied with the World Championships overall. "We showed Ski Jumping Germany that we still exist," said Horngacher.
Around 5,000 fans at the hill created a festive mood and cheered their heroes around Zajc euphorically. Geiger's wife Franziska and his little daughter Luisa were also excited about the hill. However, the two-year-old was not yet able to do much with her father's sport. "She just plays here, enjoys and has fun," said Franziska Geiger and laughed.
Despite missing out on the podium, her husband and his team achieved more at the World Championships than previously expected. Wellinger made a similar statement. "All in all, it was really cool. Going home with two medals, that's a pretty good conclusion," said the 2018 Olympic champion, who got back on track just in time for the World Cup: "But fifth place at the end - that annoys us."
